Mi-ssi-ssi-pp-i
Only the turtles were practicing “social distancing” here…all I said was “Hi turtles!” and they instantly disappeared! Smart turtles!
It seems you can’t come to a state park here without a lot of toys. Mostly fancy golf carts with chrome rims that you spend hours driving around, be it a group of teenagers, old folks, or somewhere in between, social distancing has not dawned on these people…0_0…at least some kids were riding bikes!
We didn’t actually get to Mississippi right from Texas. We spent a night in Lafayette, ah, images of “True Blood” there, at a KOA pretty much right on the I 10. Luckily they shuffled us to the back by the lake, you could still see the I 10, and count the cars and trucks going by, perhaps we should have stayed to the front. The trailer beside us had an outdoor pen with 4, extremely small barky dogs, the kind I would like to strangle. I love dogs, but these 4 would bark if I moved in OUR trailer, let alone try to go outside…ah, if only they would give me the powers of “Q”…one day, that is all I ask, many dogs would become barkless…how I loved our Basenji. People are assholes as well. Why leave them outside, where people like me want to strangle them…you can tell we are getting tired can’t you:) well, have a nice day ya’all….so you can tell the KOA was a memorable spot;) the pen is mightier than the sword:) one word…Google reviews;)..anyway, back to Mi-ssi-ssi-pp-i (my first guitar songbook was Bobby Gentry’s Ode to Billy Joe so I have a lot of her songs stuck in my head;)…Paul B Johnson State Park as 221 miles, 3 hours and 21 minutes from there. Finally heading North! Yeah!
It is a bit of a windy road but nothing drastic to get into this park, past a water overflow area and a few cabins and pull through sites until we got to loop B. No one ever came to check us out the two days we were there, no one was at the booth to check in…social distancing…Good!
Too bad most of the folks here were just going about their park visit as if nothing was happening. We kept our distance:) ah, to not have a care in the world….maybe they were counting on God. Lot’s of evidence of that here, proclaimed on the front of RV’s, in the RV windows, and on their sterns, is that what you call an RV back or end? Also no alcohol or open carry, on the beaches;) Good ideas in pairs!
Our first day here was lovely, no neighbours except a quiet elderly Ohio couple until a toy hauler moved in with two large dogs on 30′ leashes tied to trees outside that barked whenever you moved…sigh, I am cursed by barking dogs this trip. Usually in parks we don’t have too much of that, not here:(
At least there were also a lovely spattering of wildflowers under the pines and along the lake! Haven’t been able to ID many but I’ll keep looking online!
I really couldn’t get much history or information on the park online, other than it is close to several football, or baseball fields, and an Army camp/base…that’s exciting stuff:) ha! A walk around the shoreline revealed some interesting plants and a few lovely bugs!
On the freeway and highway on the road in the Wisterias blooming are amazing. They climb hundreds of feet into the trees, a splash of colour against the pale grey branches and trunks that have not leafed out. I tried to grow one in Baja but the cows kept eating it! There was a spectacular bloom along the road. Stunning!
There is so much beauty around us. At times recently hard to concentrate on it with the incredibly alarming news coming from all corners of the world, yet here, nature goes on being nature, nonplussed by our pandemic. We have tried to limit our exposure to people and places not practicing safe distance and cleanliness. Gloves on, hand washing, wiping everything down. We hope that is enough to protect us but I can’t help but feel in the South there is going to be a horrible explosion of this virus after watching the nonchalant manner people are responding to it. It is very distressing. We made a decision to pick up the pace to head North and back to Canada. Sat down, new game plan each stop. Taking into account the 20 year old cat and how tiring driving a big rig can be.
A few minutes of squirrel watching was good for the soul:) The cats agreed:) After the toy hauler and large tethered barking dogs appeared they said they were ready to go, “Park bad, too many big dogs” the traveling Mewberries all chimed in;) I agreed! Next stop…Alabama, not sweet home, but Alabama none the less;) Stay tuned!
